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Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California. As of 2010, they have released six studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums and three EPs. The Descendents broke up and reformed several times over the years, sometimes with different musicians. The band's current lineup is singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez and drummer Bill Stevenson. History Early years Descendents were formed in 1978 by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. Their first release -- the only one with this lineup -- was "Ride the Wild"/"It's a Hectic World". In 1980 they enlisted Stevenson's old schoolfriend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. Their first release with Aukerman, 1981's Fat EP, was a furious six-minute barrage of teen angst and goofball humour, featuring such songs as "My Dad Sucks" and the eleven-second "Wienerschnitzel". Their debut album the following year, Milo Goes to College, introduced an element of melody and sensitivity that set them apart from most other hardcore bands. They sang about being (and wanting to be) rejected ("I'm Not A Loser", "I Wanna Be A Bear", "Parents"), girls ("Hope", "Myage", "Marriage", "Kabuki Girl"), fishing ("Catalina"), and other subjects not normally discussed by their peers. Songwriting was shared among the band members First hiatus and reformation (1984-1986) Milo Aukerman really was off to college, embarking on an education that would take him as far as a doctorate in biochemistry, while Bill Stevenson became the drummer for Black Flag. The Descendents did not record again until 1985 with the album I Don't Want to Grow Up. Much of the song-writing on this LP was much more sensitive than the band's earlier records, despite being peppered by songs such as "Pervert" and "No FB". The band's lineup changed during the recording of I Don't Want to Grow Up. Navetta left the band during the recording to become a fisherman in Oregon, and Lombardo left after the recording as touring was incompatible with his career as a postal carrier. Ray Cooper, who had originally replaced Milo as vocalist, then replaced Navetta on guitar upon Milo's return. Doug Carrion (formerly of ANTI) replaced Lombardo on bass. Enjoy!, their next album (released in 1986) was not well received by critics. It was a mix of silly, nearly pointless songs ("Enjoy", "Kids", "Orgofart", etc.), and emotional, mature songs such as "Get The Time" and a cover of "Wendy" by the Beach Boys. Presumably to mock crossover thrash bands such as Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I., the band even experimented with thrash metal on "Hürtin Crue". After the Enjoy! tour, Ray Cooper got a job working in the emerging software scene and Doug Carrion left for other projects, eventually ending up in Dag Nasty. Stevenson invited Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez of Salt Lake City's Massacre Guys to replace them, and the now permanent lineup of the Descendents was in place. ''ALL'' The group released ALL in (1987), which, despite "Van", "ALL-O-Gistics" and the one-second "ALL", was the Descendents most mature 1980s album, and featured emotional songs such as "Coolidge", "Cameage" and "Clean Sheets". This would be the band's final album before their nine-year hiatus. On the reunion tour, the band that five years before had claimed that they "couldn't sell out a telephone booth" were selling out nearly every show. With the release of ALL, the Descendents introduced to the world the driving concept behind their career's work, from which the album derives its title, the philosophy of ALL. The song ALL was actually written at the time of the philosophy's conception around 1980, in the midst of the song-writing fury that produced a number of the tunes from the "Fat" EP, including "I Like Food." Stevenson co-wrote these songs with best friend/fishing buddy/Descendents "Fifth Member," Pat McQuiston. The two came up with the concept while working a late night on the water, and fishing and coffee (Enjoy's "Kids" and Everything Sucks's "Coffee Mug") remained themes for Descendents songs and spiritual aids in the quest for ALL, which they define quite conventionally as "the total extent." The idea of ALL as a concept beyond this conventional definition is one of endless self improvement. "The total extent" is an all-encompassing greatness, the pursuit of which is endless and impossible, but which is also the source of all real happiness. Thus, "No, ALL!," speaks to the fruits of this "endless quest," and "happiness is the pursuit of ALL" is the viable credo which is often lost in the midst of the Descendents' slightly more conventional dual-motif of off-beat humor and girls. Second hiatus and reformation (1988-2003) Milo left after the back-to-back "ALL" and "FinALL" tours in 1987 and the remaining Descendents reformed with singer Dave Smalley (later replaced by Scott Reynolds, who was followed by Chad Price) and reformed under the name ALL, and continued the legacy until 1996, when they reformed again with Milo Aukerman, now a full-time research biochemist, to record and tour in support of the album Everything Sucks, a bit of a return to their early-80s punk style (with Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo making appearances on "Dog House" and "Eunuch Boy"). A reunion of sorts occurred at ALL's quasi-annual Stockage festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the spring of 2002. Frank Navetta joined Tony Lombardo and Bill Stevenson to play songs from when they were a trio, before Aukerman joined the group. Recent history (2004-present) In 2004 the band released the 'Merican EP and their newest full length Cool to Be You, which is among their more emotional releases to date. Containing songs not just about the regular Descendents lyrical themes, but also political commentary ("'Merican") and a more mature view on relationships, ("Talking, Anchor Grill") and break-ups ("She Don't Care"). Until 2010, the future of the Descendents was uncertain, as the Descendents now are scattered all across the country. Aukerman apparently is living in Newark, Delaware, Stevenson and Alvarez live in Fort Collins and Egerton lives with family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stevenson currently runs The Blasting Room recording studio in Fort Collins while Egerton hones his recording chops at Armstrong Recording Studio in Tulsa. 'Merican's "I Quit" leaves only question marks as to whether Milo will ever return again to record or tour with the Descendents. Meanwhile, All remains dormant with two albums left on the back burners as works in progress. Bill Stevenson is drumming for his new band, Only Crime as well as an outings with bassist Alvarez in The Last and Evan Dando's Lemonheads. The Descendents collaborated with Vans in mid-2006 to create a Descendents signature shoe. In November of 2006, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam was released for Nintendo's Wii console sporting a rerecorded version of the song "Myage", originally released on the Descendent's debut album, "Milo Goes to College." This has raised more questions as to the band's recording of a new album, as it was supposedly recorded in 2006. According to the forum administrator of DescendentsOnline.com, the band's official website, "we initially planned to use the original version of myage, but as the deadline grew near, and for whatever reason, SST Records had not responded to the Tony Hawk people's inquiries about using the original, Bill put this new version together just in time using Milo's vocals compiled from various alternate recordings of "Myage" that we had on hand, and Bill just playing everything else himself, due to the deadline." All instruments on this version were performed by Bill Stevenson. In October 2008, founding member Frank Navetta died after "becoming ill over the course of a few days".The official site for the DESCENDENTS As of August 2010, according to their official website, the Descendents have reunited again and will be playing one show in Austin, TX, in November and three shows in Australia in December.http://www.descendentsonline.com/ On October 29, 2010, Transmission Entertainment announced that the Descendents would be headlining the 5th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas November 5–7, 2010.http://funfunfunfest.com/news/14621 The band was booked to replace the Sunday headlining spot previously held by Devo, who had to cancel due to injuries to guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.http://funfunfunfest.com/news/13561 On November 17, 2010 it was announced that the Descendents have been confirmed to play the Groezrock Festival-2011. The festival will take place in Gestel, a part of Meerhout, Belgium. The event is set for April 22 & 23. The Belgian festival is celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2011. Discography Albums Main article: Descendents discography * Milo Goes to College (1982) * I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985) * Enjoy! (1986) * All (1987) * Everything Sucks (1996) * Cool To Be You (2004) Compilation appearances * Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 (2004) Band members Current members *Milo Aukerman Lead vocals (1980-1982, 1984–present) *Stephen Egerton Guitar (1987–present) *Karl Alvarez Bass (1987–present) *Bill Stevenson Drums (1978–present) Past members *Tony Lombardo – bass guitar (1979–1984) *Frank Navetta – guitar (1979–1984) *Ray Cooper – guitar, vocals (1982–1987) *Doug Carrion — bass guitar (1986–1987) Related bands *ALL - Bill Stevenson, Karl Alvarez, Stephen Egerton, (Milo Aukerman also frequently performed backing vocals on recordings) *Black Flag - Bill Stevenson, (Milo Aukerman also performed backing vocals on recordings) *Buggerall - Randel Jilek *Dag Nasty - Doug Carrion *Doggy Style - Doug Carrion *Humble Gods - Doug Carrion *Left Insane - Stephen Egerton *The Lemonheads - Bill Stevenson, Karl Alvarez *The Last - Bill Stevenson, Karl Alvarez, David Nolte *Milestone - Milo Aukerman *Minuteflag - Bill Stevenson *Only Crime - Bill Stevenson *TonyALL - Tony Lombardo, Bill Stevenson, Karl Alvarez, Stephen Egerton *Spiffy - Tony Lombardo, Ray Cooper References External links *Descendents at Allmusic *Descendents Online *Flipside Interview - Descendents interview from 1986 *Suburban Voice Interview - Descendents interview from 1985 Category:Bands LTJ have played with Category:Links to Wikipedia